The Cyprus Pride Parade 2016, will take place between 17 – 28 May 2016, with the Cyprus Pride Parade taking place on 28 May, in Nicosia.

The central message is “TransForm your Mind” aimed at encouraging everyone to free their mind of all prejudice. At the sametime, it attempts to turn the spotlight on a group of people who,excatly because of the prevailing prejudice, remians in the fringes of society: trans people.

Dear Members, Friends of Accept – LGBT Cyprus,

Following our previous mailings regarding the Annual General Assembly of the organisation, we would like to inform you that due to technical difficulties the Chairing Pool of the Electoral Assembly decided, with the consent of the Management Board and the Supervisory Committee, to extend the deadline for submission of the nomination forms for the Management Board Elections. As such, the new deadline for sending applications is the 15^th of December at 12:00.  We urge all willing members to consider applying for the Board!

At the same time, following a problem created with the originally planned venue where the Annual General Assembly was going to be held, the venue has now been transferred to the Cleopatra Hotel in Nicosia, at the same time, i.e. on 19 December, at 10:00.

We trust that this is the last change we will be announcing! :) We will contact you within the following week with information regarding the candidates for the elections and to also disseminate proxies and ballot papers for any members who wish to use them.

Below you will see the revised agenda of the Assembly while attached you will find the Guidance for Nominations for the Management Board of Accept – LGBT Cyprus and Nomination Form for the Management Board.

The topics up for discussion during the Annual General Assembly are:

• Celebratory Part with Guests (a)
• Presentation, discussion and approval of the actions of the Management Board
• Presentation, discussion and approval of financial report
• Presentation: The Cyprus Civil Union Law
• Presentation: Trans Group of Accept – LGBT Cyprus
• Presentation: Group of Parents of LGBTI people of Accept – LGBT Cyprus
• Presentation: Rainbow Meetings – The evolution
• Presentation: Shield against Homophobia in Education
• Organisation of ILGA-Europe’s Conference 2016 in Cyprus
• Any other business
• Elections for the new Management Board (b)

1. Celebratory Part

The celebratory part of the Assembly will be open to the public and press and will be attended by a number of guests. There will be special arrangements for any members who do not wish to be photographed during the event.

1. Elections for the new Management Board

At the end of the General Assembly an Electoral General Assembly will follow where eight members will be elected to the new Management Board. Details of the role of Management Board members and relevant skills and experience are outlined in the guidance notes for nominations (attached).

At the Annual General Assembly any member can:

• Suggest the introduction of new Regulations
• Request modification or cancellation of existing Regulations
• Raise any issues or motions concerning the operation or the objectives of the Organisation.

Any members, who wish to add items on the Agenda, should contact the board at info@acceptcy.org. All Full Members with settled obligations have the right to vote during the Annual General Assembly. Members who cannot attend the General Assembly can be represented by someone else with a signed proxy form. Proxy forms can be sent to the members by email. Any members, who have not yet paid for their annual subscriptions, can do so on the day of the Annual General Assembly. We remain at your disposal for any further information you may need.

The Management Board, Accept – LGBT Cyprus 

Note: After half an hour from the starting time, present members constitute a quorum.

The Civil Union Law has been published In the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cyprus, ensuring that same-sex couples can enjoy the same rights and responsibilities as opposite-sex  couples when it comes to how their relationship is treated by the State and its laws! The only only major difference is the prohibition of joint adoption, however we do believe this is something that will soon change as a clear discrimination is taking place. We do think that this issue will soon be discussed shortly in public.